Make-ready for printing.



UNITED STATES PATENT EFICE.

ARTHUR s. ALLEN, oF BRooKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAKE-READY FOR PRINTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 711,147, dated October14, 1902. Application filed August 29, 1901. Serial No. 73,703- (Nomodel.)

To all whom 1115 may oon/06771,:

Be it known that LARTHUE S. ALLEN, a citizen of the United `States, anda resident of Brookline, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Make-Ready tor` Printing, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

In order to produce a proper impression from type or plates in aprinting-press, it is necessary for the pressman to build up the unevenparts in the letter-press and the solid and medium tones in the cutswith thin layers of paper, cutting out the high lights, so that thetympan will when an impression is taken exert more pressure in someparts than at others. This operation or process is technically termecmakingready and has involved considerable time and the exercise of greatskill and judgment on the lpart of the printer. i Y

By the employment of a novel form of tympan invented by me and formingthe subjectmatter of United States Patent Nos. 613,217, 613,218, andothers, granted to me October 25, 1898, the make-ready is obviated insome cases, and in all cases the use of such tympan greatly reduces thetime and labor necessary to prepare a piece of work for printing, thetympan being extremely sensitive to variations in pressure.

Itis now customary in preparing a press for printing a piece of work toplace such tympan or blanket upon and'next the metallic impressionmember and to superpose thereupon a press-board and one or morehangsheets of stout Manila paper, and an impression is taken upon one ofthe hang-sheets to get the position of the different portions of theform on the impression member, the make-ready being constructed on thehangsheet bearing such impression. Vhen the make-ready is finished, thedraw-sheet is placed over it and secured in place in wellknown manner,and a number of sheets of suitable paper suiicient to obtain the desiredimpression are superposed upon the drawsheet, the number of sheetsdepending upon the character of the form and the efciency of themake-ready. This practice is objectionable, however, as the irregularsurface of the make-ready-is so near the printing-surface of the formthat a number of` sheets of paper must be interposed between the latterand the make-readyin printing in order to secure a proper surface forthe impression and to prevent the tendency of the make-ready to make thesurface of the printed sheet, especially in illustrated work, and suchinterposed material acts to destroy the sharpness and clearness of theillustration when printed, this being particularly true of half-.tonecuts. The employment of a tympan ofthe sensitive character invented byme does not entirely correct this fault, inasmuch as it must act throughor from the under side of the su perposed make-ready, whereas thehighest efficiency of such a tympan is attained when it is brought asnear as possible to the printing-surface of the form and supports a hardimpression-receiving surface-such, for instance,as a sheet of very hardfiber board or hard manila.

My present invention has for its object the production of novel meansfor making ready, whereby it is possible to bring the hardprinting-surface to the top and the make-ready beneath the sensitiveblanket or tympan, thereby producing a Very brilliant, clear, and sharpimpression, and the construction of the make-ready itself is greatlyfacilitated.

In accordance with one of the objects of my invention the make-ready isinterposed between the impression member oi' the press andablanket ortympan of suitably sensitive character, and in order to use themake-ready in this novel manner I prepare it by a novel procedure ormethod.

Figure l is a sectional View of a portion of the impression' member of aprinting-press with one mode of practicing my invention applied thereto,the impression member being shown as a cylinder. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of a portion of the impression member, the reciprocating bed,and the form of a power-press to illustrate a portion ofv my invention.Fig. 3 is an enlarged section similar to Fig. 1, but showing themake-ready completed and the covering or packing on the impressionmember ready for printing.

In the practice of my invention I secure upon the impression member A ofthe press,

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and preferablyv directly upon its metallic surface, a foundation orhandv sheet a, of strong Manila paper, superposin g thereupon a tympanor blanket b, which for the purposes of this invention must be quicklyresponsive to variations in pressure and so sensitive that it willreadily transmit variations of the surface of the make-ready beneath it,and I prefer to use a tympan of the character hereinbefore referred toas invented by me, as it thoroughly meets the requirements necessary tothe successful practice of my present invention. Over the tympan one ormore sheets of paper m are placed and held in position by the draw-sheetd, which is clamped in any usual or well-known manner. Between thefoundation-sheet a, on which the make-ready is constructed andsupported, as will be described, and the tympan b I interposetransferring or duplicating means in the nature of carbon-paper or thelike, as at c, and the transferring composition may be applied as 'aseparate sheet, as shown in Fig. l, or, if

' The printer then takes an impression by effecting cooperation of theprepared impression member A with the form F on the bed B of the press,Fig. 2, and by or through the action of the transferring means c aduplicate impression is made on the foundation-sheet c, such impressionserving as a base or guide for the make-ready. After taking theimpression the draw -sheet is released at one end, and it, with thetympan and transferring means, will be turned back to expose theduplicate impression on the foundation-sheet a. Using such impression asa base or guide, the printer constructs the make-ready in usual manner,though its construction is greatly simplilied by the use of a sensitivepressuretransmitting tympan or blanket, such as hereinbefore referredto. When the make-ready is finished on the foundation-sheet, the tympanand draw-sheet are replaced in original position and secured, and theprinting is thereafter conducted in usual manner.

If the transferring composition is on a separate sheet, it willpreferably be removed before the tympan is replaced, as its presenceaccomplishes no useful purpose after the duplicate impression has beenmade upon the foundation-sheet.

From the foregoing description it will be manifest that the position ofthe foundationsheet is unchanged fromfstart Yto-finish, so that themake-ready when completed thereupon is of necessity in precisely thecorrect position on the impression member to effect accurate printing,and there is thus no possibility for any failure of the make-ready toregister exactly with corresponding portions of the form.

Inasmuch as the make-readyis clamped in place upon and adjacent thesurface of the impression member of the press, there can be no shifting,no matter what disarrangement may take place in the material superposedupon the make-ready, and the latter is always positioned.

To those skilled in the art it is well known that changes in thetemperature and humidity of the air in a press-room will cause suchVVariations in the covering of the impression member of a press as tonecessitate the repositioning of the make-ready when it is located inthe customary manner above the tympan, and in some extreme cases anentirely new make-ready must be made, all of which is obviated by mypresent invention.

With the make-ready adjacent the surface of the impression member, asherein de` scribed, it is thoroughly protected from moisture and changesin temperature, so that it cannot swell or become distorted, a frequentcause of trouble in the customary mode of procedure.

It will be observed that by my present invention the tympan or blanketis brought as near as possible to the printing-surface of the form toobtain the sharpest impression, the make-ready acting therethrough fromits under side or face. e

In Fig. 3 the make-ready t shown in section on the foundation-sheet a ispurposely exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the in- Vention.

My invention is not restricted to the precise construction andarrangement herein shown fand described nor to any particular tympan,for any tympan of suitable sensitiveness to properly operate with amakeready beneath it may be employed and falls within the spirit andscope of my invention. So, too, in practicing my invention any suitabletransferring means may be employed which will cause a duplicateimpression to be made upon a suitable foundation-sheet to serve as thebase or guide for the makeready.

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Having fully described my invention, what ing-press, a superposed,sensitive tympan, and a transferring!` medium between the adjacent facesof the tympan and foundationsheet, whereby when an impression of theprinting-surface is taken a duplicate of such impression will betransferred to the foundation-sheet, to form a base or guide for themake-ready.

3. In a make-ready for printing, a foundation-sheet, a superposed tympanresponsive to different pressures due to Variations in the height of theprinting-surface, and a transferring medium interposed between thetympan and the foundation-sheet, to transfer upon the latter a duplicateimpression of the printing surface of the form accurately correspondingto the position thereof, to constitute a base or guide for themake-ready.

